On August 15th, the PCGN is hosting a community garden picnic & garden tour. Join us to meet & share food with fellow community gardeners, share some stories of your gardens & get inspired by other local gardens! For more information see the PCGN website or contact pcgn@greenup.on.ca

Check out this month's issue of Pearl Magazine for an article "Promoting crop diversity and long-term food security through time-tested farmer knowledge", By Shannon Mak. The article on pg. 12 features an interview with urbantomato, and the magazine features many great articles about local food, entertainment & arts

Believe it or not, it is mid-July already, and that means it is almost time to get into some serious seed saving. Here are some photos of some seeds coming along out in the gardens:

These are some snap peas going to seed. The plant starts to brown & die back, & the pea pods themselves start to yellow & swell with pea seeds (peas!). I would leave the peas on the plants for a week or more after this point. Collect the pods & let them dry on a screen . . . . next year, you'll have more peas to plant!

This is a photo of spinach going to seed. As with all greens, when they are done producing (or they bolt), they will send up a flower stock. This flower stock is what will eventually yield seed

These are radishes going to seed. You can see the pods forming out of the purpley flowers

Okay, so with this season of unprecedented growth, comes a unique set of problems. I have had many a customer & friend tell me that their tomatoes are going crazy or growing out of control . . . .

Suckering Your Tomatoes 101

When your tomato plants are growing like crazy, it is a good idea to "sucker" them. This will help the plant direct vital energy into creating & ripening tomatoes, as opposed to growing more & more greenery . . . . Living up to their name, these "suckers" are sucking energy away from the fruit of your plants . . .

Step #1- Locate the sucker -

The "Sucker" is the growth that appears in the crotch between the stem & a branch (it is the portion of the plant that my fingers are grasping in the picture below:

Step #2 - Snap off the "sucker". If you break it between your thumb & forefinger, you should be able to get smooth snap

Step #3 - Repeat throughout the plant, and enjoy the fruits of your labour in the harvest to come . . . . You may have to continue this process throughout the summer

My Lakefield plants have not started to grow a lot of "suckers" yet, but I will post a before & after photo of suckering at the Havelock garden when I have done it!